US tries to block website naming informers

American officials have urged courts to censor documents published on the internet after the success of a website that names police informers and undercover agents.

The founders of the site, whosarat.com, claim it has identified 4,300 informers and 400 undercover police and FBI agents.

Its home page offers three "rats of the week", providing their names and photographs as well as court documents showing what they have agreed to say and do in return for lenient sentences.

Subscribers pay anything from $7.99 (£4) a week or $89.99 (£45) for life and get a free "Stop Snitching" T-shirt.

They can see hundreds more informants as well as various chat forums for exchanging rumours about law enforcement agencies.

The site was started in a fit of pique in August 2004 by Sean Bucci, a DJ, now jailed, who was facing charges of dealing marijuana based on an informant's information.

It began attracting thousands of postings, many supported by court documents.

The site - access to which was blocked yesterday - insists that it does not promote violence against informants or agents but is "designed to assist attorneys and criminal defendants".

But the US Justice Department says it is "witnessing the rise of a new cottage industry for the clear purpose of witness intimidation, retaliation and harassment".

In one case cited by the Justice Department, a witness in Philadelphia had to be moved and the FBI called in to investigate after material from whosarat.com was posted to his neighbours and left on cars and telegraph poles.

The department has begun urging courts to remove all plea agreements from the electronic court files which are made publicly available.

Some defence lawyers and legal experts say such websites are protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

A spokesman for the site, who calls himself Anthony Capone, said: "Everybody has a choice in life about what they want to do for a living. Nobody likes a tattletale."

• US health officials are concerned about the dangers of helmet boxing, a garage sport whose popularity is being spread by internet video sites such as YouTube.

Teenagers as young as 13 are donning boxing gloves and helmets with a face mask before hitting each other in the face until one of them passes out, loses their helmet or gives in.

There are hundreds of helmet boxing videos on YouTube. Doctors warn that, even though competitors are wearing helmets, they are still at risk of injury.